


Popularity Doesn't Suit Me, But You Do

by Sixty_feet_under



Category: TMR - Fandom, the maze runner
Genre: Adorable!Thomas, Big Brother! Thomas, M/M, Mean!Newt, Multi, Sassy!Minho, Spunky!Teresa, Thomas Doesn't Take Anyone's Shit, Thomas Has Sisters, Two of them, You'll love them I promise, popular!newt, smartass!Thomas
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-12
Updated: 2016-05-04
Packaged: 2018-05-22 21:40:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6094918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sixty_feet_under/pseuds/Sixty_feet_under
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Thomas has been living in a new town for a whole year now and the whole time he's been here, that Newton Isaacs kid seems to really hate him. Well, he seems to hate everyone, actually. But Thomas especially. But things aren't always what they seem to be...</p><p>(This is shit I know, but I write actual stories 10 times better than I write summaries ^_^)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Thomas has been living in this town for a whole year now. A whole year. To be honest, he's actually pretty impressed. His dad never really had the greatest attention span for anything, be it cooking, working, you name it. His dad was the type to move to a new town every five-to-six months. Some times Thomas never even got the chance to fully unpack all the moving boxes before they picked up everything and moved again. This is the moving equivilant of that old saying 'The body wasn't even cold yet.' 

And yeah, Thomas will be the first to say (and rightfully so) that his dad's moving tendencies were annoying as fuck. Because most of the time they either moved to somewhere Thomas hated or somewhere Thomas loved, there really wasn't an in-between. Thomas still remembers a year and a half ago leaving his best friends Rachel and Aris. Rachel was this bubbly, spunky and all around laid-back and good-hearted girl that was one in a million and Aris was a loyal, hard-working champ that was irreplaceable in Thomas's eyes (and it hasn't hurt that Aris was hot too.)

Yes, Thomas thought Aris was hot and yes he was attracted to guys. But he was also attracted to girls as well. He didn't seem to have devoloped a preference for either of them. So he'd currently be willing to place himself directly in the middle of the bisexual road, not leaning too far over to one side or the other. And in all honesty, being bisexual was kinda awesome. The world was pretty much Thomas' oyster and he liked it that way.

But back to his previous statement, Thomas found he mostly liked it here. Sure there were too many burger kings for his liking and not nearly enough Chic fil'a's, and sure he'd seen too many backwards baseball-caps for his liking, but it was fine. Because all in all, the school he goes to isn't the worst he's been to in all his sixteen years.

They didn't make Thomas get up at the ungodly hour of 5:30am for one, which is what Thomas had had to do at his previous school (Thomas looks back on those days and actually finds himself cringing violently). And then there was the fact that while the cafeteria's food wasn't too standard, you did have enough time to hop in the car with your friends and grab something, which is what Thomas and his friends did often.

And now we've come to Thomas' friends. Honestly, his friends are pretty great. First there's Minho, who Thomas met when they both auditioned for the school's track team. Minho had just moved here himself, all the way from Michigan. Not only was Minho one of the fastest runners Thomas had ever met, but he was also one of the wittiest people Thomas knew. Thomas could appreciate a good sense of wit and snark, especially when you're just having a casual conversation. There's nothing better than being able to have a whole, hour and a half sarcastic phone conversation with someone, Thomas is sure of that.

Have you ever met someone who you're just sure is your soul-mate, but in a purely platonic way? Well that's what Minho is to Thomas. 

Then there's Alby, who isn't from around here either. He's actually from the south (though he refuses to clarify where exactly). Alby's kind of a hard-ass, but sometimes Thomas and the rest of his friends need it. You could call him the 'Overprotective mother' of their group, but Thomas personally would refer to Alby as the 'Scary When He's Pissed At You For Staying Out Too Late Father'. But then again, that's just Thomas...

Then there's Teresa. Teresa Agnes. Teresa is one of the most beautiful girls in school. She has long hair as black as the night sky, and big vibrantly bright blue eyes. She's pale and slender with long arms and legs. To make a long story short, Teresa is pretty perfect. And she's not just pretty either. She's one of the smartest kids in their class (Next to Thomas himself, surprisingly). 

In fact, if you give Teresa any math problem she can solve it within two minutes, despite being totally unprepared. She's also got a good sense of humor. She isn't easy to offend like some of the other girls at school so she can take a joke very well and even give you one back too. She's also the 'Wild-Card' of their little group. She's always up to try something new, exciting and potentially-illegal or dangerous. In fact, Brenda even nicknamed her 'AJ' (short for Adrenalin Junky).

And now we've come to the last person of their group. Brenda. Brenda's pretty cute too, what with her short dark brown hair, big brown doe-eyes and super-tan skin, but that's not all she is. She's a well-known bad-ass when she wants to be. One time, someone started harassing and groping Teresa during the gang's many-adventures to 'new and exciting places'. Brenda personally broke the guys nose with a killer upper-hook. She's a boxer, but seeing as how there isn't a boxing club thing at their school, she has to go to the local gym and pay for private lessons. 

And that's everyone. Their sort of the 'Misfits' of their school, and they all ended up banding together. Sort of like the breakfast club in a way. Oh yeah, did he mention that he's also a huge 90's movie geek? Because he is.

All in all, Thomas' life here is pretty great. It's almost perfect, actually. The only thing wrong isn't a thing, persay, it's a person. Greene High's most popular stud, Newton Isaacs.


	2. The Green Fam

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We meet the full Green family, as well as Minho.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay guys, here's some info you need to know about the Green family. And this is just what I've come up with so far;  
> 1.) Thomas has two younger sisters, Hayley and Gabriella.  
> 2.) Hayley is a year younger than Thomas (who is sixteen), making her fifteen and Gabriella is two years younger than Hayley, making her herself 13.  
> 3.) Thomas, Hayley and Gabriella's mother, Nora, died of cancer when Thomas was ten.  
> 4.) Their father started moving around constantly six months after Nora died.  
> 5.) Thomas is so sweet and caring to his little sisters and he and his family have a pretty good relationship like 97.2% of the time.  
> That's all so far, now let us carry on with the story. Enjoy! :D I'll try to update this story tomorrow too, and next chapter we'll see Teresa as well as...others.. ;)

Thomas was woken up by the relentless and shrill beeping and buzzing of his phone's alarm. After much tossing, turning, groaning, and fumbling Thomas actually sucked it up and, with a rather heavy, put-upon sigh, reached over blindly on his bedside table to grab his phone, that was still busy having an alarm-induced-seizure, and held it up above him in front of his face. He squinted slightly at the harsh brightness of his screen and instantly went to lower it. Honestly, he almost had it up to the full maximum brightness level. What was he thinking last night? His phone wasn't a Christmas tree and didn't need to be lit up as such. Plus it was wasting like, a shit-tone of his battery, so, fuck that.

Once he'd lowered his brightness to a more practical level for how dark it was in his room now (early in the mornings here, whenever Thomas got awoken by his alarm for school, the sun had barely risen yet, and it cast the softest yellow mixed with a darker shade of blue-ish grey through his half-drawn bedroom curtains. It would be a pretty sight, really, if he didn't have to be forced to get up he would probably enjoy it) he went back to his alarm app and saw that it was about time to start getting ready for school. 6:13. 

But Thomas has a problem, you see. He always delays going to bed and his usual record for staying up on school nights is around 5:30-5:50-ish in the morning. So, that being said, obviously he's more than a little sleep deprived. Jesus H, he hasn't even had a full hour's sleep yet today. And yes, yesterday had been one of those record 5:50-ish nights. And, on top of being tired as absolute fuck, Thomas also has a problem with getting out of his bed. He wishes that he didn't. He gives himself a million lectures on it before he goes to bed (passes out from exhaustion), he tells himself how he can't keep pulling this shit and how it's only making him and his family run on an even later schedule than usual. Yeah, his family was one of those family's that were always late to everything, no matter how hard they tried not to be, they were. 

After another ten minutes of hitting the snooze button, absently scrolling through his texts and social media, and more flopping, tossing and turning, a true miracle happens. He actually manages to gain some control of his body and set his phone back down (rather reluctantly) on his bedside table and then proceeds to kick off his comforter before swinging his legs to the side of the bed and standing up, stretching his arms up over his head as he does so. And oh my god it really is a fucking miracle. It must be Christmas or some shit because he managed to get out of bed before his phone could remind him for the tenth time. Not today procrastination, not today! 

Resisting the urge to actually cheer at that last thought, he set off towards the bathroom down the hall. He was pleased to see he made it there before Hayley did, for once in his whole 16 fucking years of life. It's about damn time, too. Hayley was one of those people who could live in the bathroom and the bathroom alone. She didn't need much to survive in there for long periods of time, either. Her phone, her hair straightener/curler, her make-up bag, a glass of cold juice or soda, and maybe some tape to 'help make her eyeliner game so strong it'll actually cut the next bitch who talks shit about her behind her back' in his little sister's words. Ahh, Hayley, you little gem to humanity you. 

Not that Thomas didn't love her, he totally did. You could call him an over-protective big brother if you wanted, but he preferred understandably concerned and caring sibling, himself. And honestly, he didn't think that was a bad thing. In fact, it's actually done his sisters more good than harm. One time, when Thomas had been in seventh grade and Hayley had been in sixth, some girl named Kristen had apparently been bugging Hayley for awhile. Hayley never gave a reason as to why, but Thomas guessed it was the usual middle school behavior, where everyone was desperate for the whole school to notice and talk about them. Attentions whorring as Thomas and Hayley liked to call it now. Anyways, this Kristen chick had actually gotten up in Hayley's face one day once school had been let out. Hayley had made it to the parking lot to wait for their parents before Thomas had. And when Thomas got there he saw Kristen in Hayley's face saying something nasty, her face twisted and smug, and Hayley looking directly into Kristen's eyes, not saying much but standing her ground and showing she wasn't afraid anyway. Hayley opened her mouth and said a few things and Kristen's face had contorted even more before she'd raised a hand, as if to strike Hayley, and all Thomas had seen was red. Thomas had sprinted up to the two of them rather quickly, covering the fair distance that had been between them in under a minute and getting right up next to Kristen's face by her ear and talking as loudly as he could without directly screaming. He cussed her out of the damn parking lot, and when she left, it was with fear in her eyes and a slight pink flush on her cheeks. Thomas remembered to this day how he had turned back to Hayley to ask if she was alright, only to be met with his sister's greatful looking, slightly stunned face. And then Hayley had smiled, a bright smile even brighter than the sun shinning down on them had been, and she'd laughed and called Thomas a certified bad-ass. Thomas hadn't denied it. 

The point was, whenever Hayley, or Gabriella for that matter, needed him, he would be there. Without a doubt. That was just the kind of brother he is. And he hadn't gotten much complaints about it so far.

Thomas took a quick shower, revelling particularly in how nice it was to know he could stand under the hot water for however long his pressing schedule could possibly allow. I mean, at this point he didn't really care anymore. It was obvious he'd be late again, so why should he rush himself and show up to school with mid-matched socks hastily pulled on and a half-washed head with bits of conditioner still in it? He should't. 

Once he was done, he got out, walked to his bedroom and got dressed. Jeans, graphic T, sneakers, and a leather jacket. The usual. What? Just because he wasn't the baddest ass in the school didn't mean he wasn't allowed to own a leather jacket. And besides, this one wasn't the standard, new, shiny jet black. It was dark brown, worn-looking and unbelievably soft. It was the best jacket he owned, his one, true piece of clothing he couldn't stand to live without. Thomas loved this jacket more than he loved himself, to be quite honest. 

Once that was done, Thomas spent a solid six and a half minutes in front of the mirror to his closet in his room, messing with his hair that just would not cooperate well with him today. Well, fucking fine then, Thomas thought to himself huffily, deciding enough was enough and this was as good as it was going to get. Scowling at his hair one more time, he turned around, walked out of his closet and made his way to his bedroom door, passing through it quickly and making his way downstairs heading to the kitchen. 

He was surprised to find Gabriella downstairs already, looking pretty up and at 'em. She was sitting at the tiny wooden table directly in front of the window on the far left wall of the kitchen. She had her ankles crossed together, her elbows and upper arms laying flat on the smooth brown surface of the table. She would tap the tip of her already booted foot against the floor every now and then, as if she remembered a song she liked and started to drum along to it without realizing.

Gabriella was very pretty for her age. She was one of those middle school kids that looked like they could be high-school-aged. She had pale skin, with little golden tan freckles here and there, most noticeably acting as a sort of bride over her nose and dotting out here and there on her round cheeks. She had naturally dark eyebrows, slim light-pink lips, long, thick and wavy dark hair that was so brown it was almost black. And she had very big, very wide hazel eyes that caught the light and sparkled prettily without even trying. Thomas was certain she was the envy of every other girl in her middle school here, just as she'd been at the last one she'd been to. Gabriella wasn't just a pretty face, though. She had a very good sense of humor for someone her age, just the right amount of maturity and innuendos, and she had this mellow, go-with-the-flow personality that just made you want to hang out with her loads because she was 'pretty chill'. 'I don't know you but you seem cool' to be honest's we're practically MADE with Gabriella in mind. And, oddly enough, Gabriella reminded Thomas of Teresa at times. It was little things, like hand gestures here and there (both Gabriella and Teresa loved talking with their hands), and even the way they would always get louder and louder when they were excited or angry about something. Gabriella was like a little Tiny Teresa. 

Fighting back a chuckle at that, Thomas made his way into the kitchen. Gabriella didn't seem to notice he was there at first, but once he'd opened the kitchen cupboard and fished around to grab a bowl for cereal out from underneath all the other bowls stacked on top of it, Gabriella's pretty hazel eyes snapped up and over to where Thomas was. She relaxed once she saw it was him and her eyes even seemed to light up a bit.

"Oh, hey Thomas." Gabriella says, a nice airy tone to her voice as she flashes him a small smile. Thomas, now that he's finally fished his bowl out of the cabinet, turns to her and smiles back.

"Hey Gabs, how's it going?" He asks as he sets the bowl down on the kitchen counter before turning around and heading to the fridge to get some milk. 

"Ehh, it's going good, I guess." Is Gabriella's answer as Thomas opens the refrigerator door. Bending down, looking for the milk, Thomas replies,

"'You guess', huh? How can you guess if you're good or not?" Catching sight of the milk, he grabs it and pulls it out before turning around and making his way back to the kitchen counter and his bowl again. Once he's set the milk down, he looks back up and over at Gabriella. "Is something up?"

Gabriella shakes her head at once. "Oh no, no it's nothing, really. I was just waiting on Hayley to get up and come down here so I could ask her if it'd be okay if I rode to school with you and her today."

Thomas raises an eyebrow at this. "And why are you asking Hayley instead of the guy that's actually going to be DRIVING the car?" 

Gabriella flushes a light shade of pink. "Oh... Well, I... I just didn't want to bug you."

Thomas raises his eyebrows up further. "You..didn't want to bug me? Gabs, you can never bug me. There's really nothing to bug, actually. I mean, you've seen me. I hardly have a life, how could you possibly 'bug' someone like me?"

"I don't know, I just..." Gabriella lets her sentence trail off but she didn't need to finish it. Thomas understood what she was trying to say. 

"Wait, did you seriously think that I'd say no?" Thomas asked her incredulously, looking intently at Gabriella who seemed shy and suddenly couldn't meet his eyes for longer than .3 seconds.

"Umm... Well, yeah. Actually, I did." Gabriella says, not really looking Thomas in the eyes, but looking off to her right side. Thomas just gazes at her. 

"Gabs, you know I can never say no to you. It's those damn puppy dog eyes of yours. I mean, how am I supposed to say no to THAT?" Thomas asks, making a blind gesture over at Gabriella, meaning to indicate Gabriella's eyes. Thomas drops his hands and sighs. "Of course you can come with us, Gabs. But just so you know, I actually won't be the guy driving today. Minho's picking us up in his car today." 

Minho had been kind enough to suggest that he, Thomas, Teresa and Hayley all carpool together because Minho lives close to them all, his house is directly in between the way to either Teresa's or Thomas and Hayley's house. Also, Thomas is one of those teenagers that once they get a car they treat it as if it's a new born child and don't like leaving it alone unattended for long periods of time, where anything can happen to it. Also, he's a gas-obsessed freak and is always stressing about how much gas he's using to get him and Hayley to school everyday. It's stressing work being this paranoid, really it is. Thomas is surprised he doesn't have grey hair by now, to be honest.

"Sure, that sounds fine." Says Gabriella, shrugging.

"You sure, Gabs?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, Minho isn't exactly known for his outstanding driving skills. I'm not saying we'll get into a wreck or anything like that, but there is a good chance he'll go at least eight to ten miles over the speed limit and most likely get pulled over after school's let out."

It was true. Minho was one impatient bastard, always rushing and in a hurry. Running track will do that to you. It'll make you feel like everything's a race now and you're way behind. Minho is actually nutorious for bumping into people harshly as he practically flies past them at the speed of light to get from one class to another because he's late (another thing he and Thomas have in common. Forever late to anything and everything).So Minho was already bad enough, but when you put him behind the wheel he can almost be scary. One time Thomas had caught a ride back to his house with Minho after they'd had a particular long track practice, and they'd stopped to get some quick food. By the time they'd gotten on the road again it was around 6 and already getting kinda dark-ish. Minho had almost hit a deer, blown past two and a half stop signs, yes, two and a half, the third one didn't really count because a cop actually PULLED THEM OVER, and had Thomas gasp 'Holy fuck' a grand total of seven times before they'd made it back to Thomas's house. So, yeah, Thomas thought it was only fair to warn poor Gabriella of what she was getting herself into.

Gabriella didn't seem too phased by this new information though, and merely twitched her shoulders in a barely-there shrug, nodding her head lightly. "It's cool. I'm sure I'll be fine. It's not like you'll let anything happen to me." Gabriella added that last part with a light joking-ness, but a hint of fondness crept through her tone too, making Thomas grin at her.

"True, true. Just thought you should know. Also, if Minho does do anything...extreme-ish in terms of driving today, do me a favor and don't tell dad, okay?"

Gabriella giggled and nodded. "Don't worry Thom, you're secret's safe with me."

That's another thing Teresa and Gabriella had in common. They both (for some reason) loved calling Thomas 'Thom'. And the way they said it was so soft and sweet and fond, and Thomas found he never had the strength to call them out on it. In fact; he enjoyed it. Only Gabriella and Teresa were allowed to call him 'Thom' though. And Hayley too, of course, but Hayley mainly preferred to call Thomas 'Tom-Tom.' 

"Hey Thomas, where IS Hayley, anyways?" Gabriella asked, snapping Thomas out of his thoughts. Walking back over to the cupboard beside the refrigerator to get some cereal, Thomas said,

"I don't know. She wasn't busy occupying the bathroom when I woke up for the first time in my sixteen years of living, though. So she must be up in her room, sleeping still."

Gabriella giggled softly. "You mean Hayley doesn't live in the bathroom then?"

Grinning, Thomas turned back around, cereal in hand. "Yes. Shocking, isn't it?"

"Very." Giggled Gabriella, and Thomas's grin stretched. 

There was a moment of happy, comfortable silence in which Gabriella sat, still smiling, absently twiddling her fingers, and Thomas poured himself some cereal. Thomas had just eaten three spoonfuls of it when their father came in. 

"Hello everybody!" Their dad's cheerful voice called loudly as he walked into the kitchen and over to the coffee pot.

"Morning dad," Gabriella and Thomas chorused together. Their dad hummed, fiddling around with the coffee pot already.

"Hey dad, do you know if Hayley's up yet or not?" Gabriella asked from the table, her fingers stilling and coming to rest back down flatly on the table top.

"Well, seeing as how I went to go to the bathroom to freshen up only to find the door locked and the light on, I think she's in the bathroom now." Their father said, his back still turned to them as he fiddled with the coffee pot, his tone still cheerful if not a little bit playful. Thomas fought back a snort.

"Well, there we go. She's up folks." Thomas says, eating yet another spoonful of cold, milky cereal. Gabriella giggled into the palm of her hand.

A few more minutes passed by in silence, the only sounds that of Thomas's spoon scrapping against the side of his bowl, and the coffee pot buzzing and whirring. Then, once Thomas was about half-way done with his cereal, he remembered he wasn't sure if he was helping his dad out at the shop or not today. Setting his spoon back down in the bowl and chewing the last of his spoonful, Thomas decides to ask.

"Hey, dad?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you need me in the shop today?"

Thomas's dad owns one of the few big bookstores in their current town. Thomas is more than a little surprised that not only do they have a pretty steady income from it, but it also seems to be doing well. Thomas had been skeptical of his dad's idea to start a bookstore at first, thinking it wasn't a good idea for a business and an only source of money for the whole house. It seemed too much like wishful thinking for their father to work (relatively) on his own time as his own boss owning his own little local shop. Also, what with books being able to be viewed and purchased and ordered so easily off of the Internet, Thomas doubted his father would get a good enough amount of customers daily to really make good money. But he'd been wrong. He still couldn't believe it. He'd actually been wrong. His dad's bookstore was doing pretty well. Business wasn't exactly booming most of the days of the week, but it was still healthy and steady-ish, and once the weekend rolled around, things really started picking up. 

His dad hadn't wanted to hire too many people to help manage the place though, so he had struck up a deal with his kids. They could have an extra fifteen-twenty bucks (depending on how much they worked and how good the business was that week) added to their allowance, and could use their downtime to go across the street to the coffee shop and cafe to get something to eat, then come back to take advantage of the quiet atmosphere to do a bit of studying. It was a pretty nice set up, actually. Compared to some of their other ones, Thomas much preferred this one. It was...nicer. Homey-er. Less stress and more relaxation. And Thomas was actually pretty good at handling customers, believe it or not. Yeah, he hated people but he was able to fake it long enough to help them find something or check them out. Hayley...was not as tolerant and even lashed out at two or three particularly asshole-ish customers, causing their father to arrange for Hayley to mostly unstack new books, take old orders off the shelves, and tidy up here and there as best she could. 

"Yeah, I think I will. And I'll probably need Hayley too, actually."

"You'll probably need me for what? What are we talking about?" Another, lighter voice called from around the corner and then another person entered the kitchen.

Hayley was a very pretty girl. Only a year younger than Thomas, she was the knockout out of all the other freshmans. She had dark brown hair that looked silky more often than not, that fall in slight loose, barely-there waves at the ends and fell just below her chest. She was petite but slim and curvy, with a small waist and long legs and arms. She had pale skin, but it wasn't too pale, and it had tints of beige here and there. She had a slim little nose with a little silver stud through the right right nostril, and she had big, dark brown eyes with flecks of Amber here and there. Just like Thomas's. And her make-up looked Instagram model worthy; as usual. At least all that time in the bathroom paid off some.

Hayley was looking expectantly at their father as she came up to rest her elbows on the kitchen counter, standing directly across from where Thomas was.

"Ah Hayley, good. I was just telling Thomas how I'll most likely be needing both you and him helping out at the store today."

Hayley nodded slowly, "Okay, cool, but would it be alright if Teresa came too? She could help me out or whatever."

Their father thought a moment before nodding. "Fine, but she'd better not break anything or stop you from doing your job."

Hayley instantly grinned, seeming to perk up slightly. "She won't, don't worry dad."

"Hey dad, if Teresa's going then can Minho come too?" Thomas asked after his final bite of cereal. He got up to go put his now empty bowl in the sink.

"If he's free, sure."

Thomas grinned. "Great, thanks dad."

Their father smiled warmly. "No problem, pal. Now, do you all have rides to school today?" He asked, waving his finger at each of them in turn. Thomas nodded.

"Yep. Gabriella's going to be catching a ride with me, Hayley, Minho and Teresa today."

Hayley turned to Thomas, eyebrow raised slightly. "She is?" Hayley asked in a hushed voice, leaning over closer to Thomas slightly. 

"Yeah, she is." Thomas said lowly, nodding again.

Their father grinned and nodded. "Alright then. Have fun then, you three." Their father looked down at his right wrist where his watch was. "Aaannnd, I need to go now." Their father sighed, shaking his head before grinning at them again. "See you guys later at the shop. Drive safe, learn things, do all that good stuff. I love you."

"Love you too, Dad." Thomas said as Hayley hugged their father goodbye. Their father walked over to Gabriella and kissed the top of her head before ruffling her hair slightly.

"Alright, I'm off. Have a good day at school!" Their father called over his shoulder as he sprinted out of the kitchen. In case you hadn't guess already, he was currently late too. To his own shop. He was late even though he'd set up the hours for opening and closing himself. This is where Thomas, Hayley and Gabriella get it from, Thomas is sure.

They hear the front door closing and then, a few seconds later, they hear the unmistakable sound of a car rumbling to life and slowly pulling out of the gravely driveway. There's a low, long whoosh sound and then it's quiet again. Hayley flits around the kitchen, searching around for something edible to eat, wrinkling her nose at her minimal options. She wasn't a big breakfast person and only ever ate toast, pancakes and pop-tarts for breakfast. But, since she'd ate her last strawberry pop-tart two days ago, and didn't have the time or patience for pancakes or toast, she eventually settled on a glass of water with lemon and a banana. 

During this, Thomas decided to check his texts for any signs of Teresa or Minho. Fishing his phone out of his jean's pocket, he slides the screen to unlock it and goes to his texts.

Sure enough, there's a text from Minho waiting for him.

Sonic; Ayyyeee dude. Picking up Terry T first, then you. Be ready. 

Minho's name in his contacts should be obvious. He moves at super-sonic speed 99.9% of the time, after all. Thomas thought it was good at the time and he can't help but smile whenever he sees that screen-name now. He types in a reply to Minho to let him know he got the message.

Me: Hey Min. Okay, sounds good. Oh, btw, Gabriella's going to be riding with us today, so be on your best behavior.

A reply from Minho pops up almost immediately after Thomas sends the text.

Sonic; What do you mean 'be on my best behavior'? When am I ever not?

Me: You really don't want me to answer that. And you know what I mean. No nearly running over deer, for one.

There was a longer pause, and Thomas drummed his thumbs absently on the countertop as the thought bubble kept loading. Finally his phone buzzed again.

Sonic; Oh DEER, you really told me there. ;D

Thomas laughed lowly, rolling his eyes before replying.

Me: I demand you cease and desist immediately with these bad puns of yours.

Thomas's text instantly showed up as read and Minho was thought bubbling within a second. Then another text went off.

Sonic; Never gonna happen, Captain, so just sit back and let it happen ;D 

Thomas snorted, typing back a reply quickly.

Me: Rhyming too now? You're a modern day Shakespeare, you are. And if I'm the captain then I hope I'm captaining the Titanic, because I seriously want to drive this ship into an iceberg right about now.

Thomas set down his phone to tell Hayley that yes, she needed to throw her banana peel away, otherwise it would turn brown and rot and be fucking nasty and unsanitary. Hayley rolled her eyes, and mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like 'neat freak' as she walked over to the garbage bin to throw her banana peel away. Thomas went back to his phone with a fond, light roll of his eyes to see he already had a message back from Minho.

Sonic; So you admit you ship us then? ;)

Thomas almost choked on his own saliva when he saw that. He felt his cheeks warm and he was eternally thankful that Minho couldn't see it right about now because there was no doubt he'd be laughing his ass off and would then proceed to throw endless innuendos at Thomas until Thomas died from high cholesterol, because all Minho's jokes are bought at the cheese factory and are unhealthy as fuck. Thomas decided to type that back as a reply.

Me: Why? You interested? And dude, did you purchase that line from the cheese factory or smth?

Minho's reply was instant. And...annoying.

Sonic; Fuck yes I am, you sexy beast you ;) And you bet I did. I thought it was very Gouda ;D

Rolling his eyes and scoffing, his cheeks still slightly warm, (only SLIGHTLY) he typed back a reply.

Me: Okay then. Let's elope tonight. Bring the Gouda. Speaking of, I think I'll be constipated for hours now, so thanks for that one. 

Sonic; Hey, don't go cramping my humor, man ;D And dude, yes, I'll bring the Gouda...and the trojans ;)

Thomas spluttered wordlessly at the phone, feeling his cheeks grow warmer and warmer by the minute. Man...something must be up with their air-conditioner? Who would have thought it would be this warm in the beginning of September, huh? Global warming, am I right?

Apparently Hayley, being as BLESSEDLY observatory as she is, noticed this and actually leaned over to look at Thomas's phone over his shoulder. Thomas was still frozen to the spot and couldn't move the phone fast enough to his the texts. Hayley's eyes widened slightly as her eyes scanned the texts and she looked over at Thomas.

"Okay, first of all, what's with all the winky-faces? Second of all, what is this about trojans? And third of all, is that Minho?" 

Thomas was sure his cheeks were warmer than the sun right now, and he wished he could go crawl under a very large, cool, shadowy rock until his skin tone evened out and he could act casual and calm again. But until he could find such a rock, he was, unfortunately and totally, fucked.

"Uhh, yeah that's Min. And it's nothing, we're just joking around." Was Thomas's oh so smooth reply. Hayley's eyebrows arched.

"'Just joking around' huh? About safe sex and eloping?" 

Thomas fought back the urge to splutter again and willed his composure to come back to him. "Well... Uh... Yeah."

As smooth as cocoa butter. Good job, Thomas. Good fucking job.

Hayley's eyebrows arched further, her lips pressed together as if she were trying to surpress a smile, and that didn't make Thomas feel anymore comfortable right now.

"Hmm, I think someone has a crush on my big bro, don't you, Tom-Tom?"

Thomas could have spat. "W.. What? What do you mean, Hails?"

Hayley snorted and she did let a small smile appear on her lips this time. "Oh, come on, Tom-Tom. Why would someone joke about safe sex with you unless they liked you at least a little bit?"

Thomas blinked once. Twice. Three times before Hayley's words fills registered in his brain and he resisted the urge to open and close his mouth rapidly in an award winning imitation of a fish out of water. Did Hayley seriously think that Minho... That Minho liked HIM?? Seriously? Like, seriously? 

"W-WHAT?" Thomas asked, slightly louder than he had intended, causing Gabriella to raise her head and look over at them, startled and curious.

"What's going on?" Gabriella asked them, her eyes darting from Hayley to Thomas and back. Thomas desperately willed Hayley wouldn't say anything and just back off but of fucking course she couldn't, she was Hayley, after all.

"Tom-Tom has a boyfriend in the making." Hayley said, looking far too amused for this type of situation. Gabriella's eyes widened slightly and her gaze instantly snapped over to Thomas.

"You do? Since when??"

Thomas felt the tempatrure in the room increase with every second that passed under both of his sister's stares, one amuse and bright and sparkly, the other interested, confused and shimmering. Thomas fought back the urge to go out, find a white table cloth, hoist it on a bannister and wave it around in a form of surrender. 

Thankfully, THANKFULLY, Hayley toned it down a little bit, taking a step back from Thomas, though there was still a smile tugging the corners of her lips up and a glint in her eyes Thomas just didn't like because he knew it meant endless questions and teasing for him.

"Go get 'em, Tom-Tom. 'Min's probably already texted you again by now." 

Thomas didn't miss how Hayley put a lot of weight on 'Min', or how she gave him a look while she said it. Thomas was the only one who called Minho 'Min'. Don't ask Thomas how it happened. He just had to nickname people in some way or another, and Min seemed to fit Minho pretty well, and Minho had actually liked it, so the nickname sort of...stuck.

Instead of commenting, Thomas did the smart thing and allowed his gaze to lower to the safety of his phone. But that safety was taken away the second he saw the texts from Minho he had received.

Sonic; Dude, you still there?

Sonic; Okay, okay, trojans are a no then... You want a white wedding or something? ;D

Sonic; Dude, are you still there?? O.o

Sonic; Behb? Tom-Boy? Tom-Tastic Boombastic? You still there??? 

Chuckling at how worked up Minho can get, Thomas shakes his head slightly as he types a reply.

Me: Yeah, I'm still here. Sry about that, Hails & Gabs needed to talk 2 me about smth. And dude, no white. It shows dirt way too easily.

Minho typed his reply quicker than Superman could have ran across the street.

Sonic; Oh thank god! Thought I scared you off there, hubby. Tell Hayley and Gabriella to stop stealing my man away from me. :/

Me: No. Just... No, Min.

Sonic; Too soon? 

Me: Just a bit.

Me: Anyways, are you gonna be here anytime this year? Kinda need to know in advance..

Sonic; Oh, hardy har harr, Tom-Boy. I'm outside Terry's place rn.

Me: Okay, cool. Tell T I said hi :)

There's a pause, before Minho replies.

Sonic; She says hi. Okay Tom-Boy, hold on to your panties, I'm cuming 4 u ;)

Me: Oh my god, Min, stop it. This is getting bad. Like, really bad.

Sonic; Swiggity swooty, I'm coming for that booty ;D

Me: Flickety flooty, fuck youty.

Sonic; :'( :'( :'(

Me: Crybaby :P

Sonic; You're the one that made me cry, baby... ;D

Me: ... I am so done w/you. Goodbye.

And on that lovely note, Thomas turned his text notifications off and locked his phone before stuffing it into his pocket once more. If only he could stuff the memory of having that conversation in his pocket too, that way he could forget about it and never get it out again. Ahh, if only. Standing up from his seat at the stool near the counter, Thomas looks over at Hayley and Gabriella, who are now both seated at the tiny wooden table near the kitchen window, talking.

"Okay, Min should be here in a few minutes."

Hayley and Gabriella nod and mumble okay before going back to their previous conversation. Thomas is almost tempted to slip his phone out of his pocket again and talk to Minho so that way he has something to do again but then he remembers Minho's many bad puns and in ineuendos will be awaiting him there and he decides not to. Instead, Thimas decides to sit down on the countertop itself to wait for awhile.


	3. Cute Friends and Car Collisions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We meet Teresa, as well as a certain popular blonde, and drama insues ;)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Teresa and Newt are in the house everybody! And two updates in the same week. Do you love me? Cuz I don't love me and need someone else to love me... I need love... Anyways, on with the story. Don't forget to leave a rate and a comment because I live for them. Bai ;D

After about six and a half minutes of sitting around, twiddling his thumbs, spinning around absently on the kitchen's turning stool, and joining in on Hayley's and Gabriella's conversation every now and then, they heard a car approaching near their house. After another, say, ten seconds, there was a shrill squeaking sound that was undoubtedly the car being put into park. 

Fucking finally, Thomas thought to himself as he eagerly hopped off the stool he'd been sitting on, grabbed his backpack that had been resting on the kitchen counter and tossed it over his shoulder. Once his backpack was resting on his shoulder nice and secure, he turned to Hayley and Gabriella.

"Okay, they're here. Time to go." Thomas told them. Hayley and Gabriella instantly stopped their hushed conversation and nodded. Hayley seemed very happy to spring up from her seat at the tiny kitchen table, smiling and stretching her arms behind her back lazily as she did so. Honestly, she looked so much like a cat it was unreal right now.

"It's about time. I was starting to think we'd get to school sooner if we walked." Was Hayley's reply as she picked her messenger bag up off of the floor and slid it over her slim shoulder, tossing her hair back so that it wouldn't get trapped under her bag's strap as she did so. And, while Thomas was busy making sure he had everything in his backpack and jean pockets, and Gabriella was busy putting on her own backpack, Hayley skipped over to the kitchen's back door and pulled it open, stepping out over it's threshold and flinging herself onto the little bit of sidewalk that led down through the yard and over to their back curb, where Minho's car was undoubtedly waiting for them now. She looked from the direction of the curb to inside the house, practically bouncing on the balls of her feet with impatience as she held the door open, clearly wanting to leave. Now.

"Guy's come on or we're going to be even later than we already are now." Hayley told them, shimmying in place slightly. Thomas was the first to join her outside, rearranging his notebooks in his backpack as he did so. 

So now they were both waiting on Gabriella. Who was taking her sweet time searching through her own backpack for something. 

"Today, Gabriella!" Hayley called loudly, actually tapping her foot quickly seven times in impatience. 

"Patience is a virtue, Hails." Thomas said as he zipped up his backpack audibly and patted his front right jean pocket to make sure that his phone was still there. Hayley rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, one that I don't have." Then, more loudly than before, she called again, "Gabriella!"

"Okay, okay, I'm coming, I'm coming." Gabriella muttered, irritated, as she too finally crossed the threshold, a small hair tie in her hand, her backpack resting firmly on both her shoulders.

"Now you are." Was Hayley's also muttered response as she eagerly let go of her grip on the front door. It swung back closed with a particularly audible slam. Hayley didn't seem apologetic in the slightest about it, and proceeded to practically sprint across the backyard, Thomas and Gabriella not too far behind her. 

Once the three of them finally reached the curb they saw Minho's shiny black van waiting for them, parked almost dangerously close to the curb. Thomas resisted the tempting urge to roll his eyes and snort at that. If there was one thing Minho was the worst at of all it was parking. And, if it was parallel parking Thomas would, of course, understand that because hey, parallel parking is scary as fuck and should not be a thing people have to do. At all. Ever. But Minho was just bad at parking in general, even in an abandoned space in a strip mall, Minho sucked at parking. Thomas cringes to think how bad Minho would be in terms of parallel parking. 

Then the passenger's window of Minho's van rolled down, the now much brighter morning sun glinting on the slightly tinted glass as it did so. And then Teresa's head was visible. Teresa was truly a very pretty girl. Her long jet black hair was falling in careless messy waves down her shoulders, framing her face nicely and contrasting prettily with her almost ivory colored skin that was absoloutley acne and blemish free. She had high prominent cheekbones, a long neck, slender shoulders, long, slim arms, and deep-set yet very big electric blue eyes that were almost hypnotic. And here, lounging casually in the passenger's seat of Minho's car, her arm resting loosely on the now flat expanse where the window had been seconds before, her pink lips pursed slightly, big black sunglasses resting perfectly on the bridge of her ski-slope nose, and the sun shinning on her and seemingly only her like a sort of personal spotlight, Teresa looked like she could actually be a movie star. 

"Hey guys!" Teresa called cheerfully from the passenger's seat, waving and smiling. She certainly seemed perky this morning. Thomas wonders whether any thing's happened today to put her in a good mood. Usually Teresa can be an absolute terror in the mornings, and can be more than capable of chewing your head off and spitting it out in front of you if you do so much as one thing to get on her nerves. Teresa can have a short temper at times, it's true, but then again, so can Hayley. And Thomas isn't exactly one to throw stones himself in this department either. He's more than used to it, is what Thomas is trying to say.

"Hey T." Thomas says, returning her smile and waving back at her. Teresa seems to brighten even more and starts waving more enthusiastically.

"Hey Tom! Hey Hayley! Hey Gabby!" 

Teresa calls Gabriella 'Gabby' a lot. Teresa is a lot like Thomas in the way they just have to nickname everyone that they can. And Gabriella absoloutley adores the nickname Teresa gave her. Thomas thinks it makes Gabriella think she's special. 

"Hi Teresa!" Gabriella says, just as cheerful, waving back quickly and grinning.

Teresa giggled and opens her mouth to say something else before she's cut off by Minho.

"Oh my god, hiiiiiii!" Minho said, putting on an overly-enthusiastic, high-pitched voice and leaning forward so he can be seen from next to Teresa and waving wildly, before stopping and rolling his eyes so heavily it must have hurt. "Now that we've got all the goodmorning-greetings out of the way, hows about we shake a tail feather? We're still kinda late, you know." 

Hayley let out a sudden laugh. "Oh my god, 'shake a tail feather'? Seriously, Minho? Take that back to 2006 where it belongs." 

"'2006'?" Thomas asks inquriingly, looking over at Hayley and raising an eyebrow. "I think 'shake a tail feather' goes back a little longer than 2006."

Hayley grunt lightly, shrugging. "Yeah, it does, but I first heard it back when Chicken Little came out, so..." Hayley let her sentence trail off, stuffing her hand casually in the pockets of her own jeans. 

"Okay then Chicken Little, do me a favor: make like the sky's falling and get in my car already before I drive off and leave your ass here." Minho interjects. 

Hayley looks like she's surpressing a grin. "If I remember correctly Minho, the sky wasn't actually falling. Chicken Little just got hit on the head by a nut."

"If it'll make you get in the car faster, I'll call my mom over here to come hit you on the head, alright?" Minho asks, looking pretty fed up at this point. Which is weird because usually Minho can trade barbs with Hayley, or anyone else for that matter, for hours on end. It's like his special talent or something. Comebacks. 

"Hey, you take that back, Minho. You're mother's nice." Teresa exclaims from the passanger's seat, turning to look at Minho fully now. 

"Not when you're her kid she's not." Minho replied, shrugging. "Look, as much as I'd like to discuss early 2000's Pixar movies and my home life, we're kinda pressed for time, so do you guys mind, I don't know, getting in already?" 

Hayley shrugged. "Fine."

"Well, let's 'shake a tail feather' then." Thomas said, finding it hard to keep a straight face as he opened the back door of Minho's van and began to climb in. 

Once Thomas, Hayley and Gabriella had successfully managed to shuffle into the car, all of them sitting in the backseat with Thomas seated in the middle, Hayley on his left, and Gabriella on his right, Thomas became suddenly aware of the fact that Minho was currently blasting Arctic Monkeys as loud as it could go on the car's radio. Thomas felt a bit of guilt for the fact that his neighbor's were probably hating him and not catching enough z's, before he remembered that he hated mornings and most of his neighbors and if he had to suffer through the early morning ugliness then why shouldn't other people too? 

Careful not to bump too much into either of his sisters, Thomas slid his bookbag off of his shoulder and leaned down in his seat to place it on the van's floor. Gabriella and Hayley decided to do the same, Gabriella setting her bag down right next to Thomas's, but Hayley leaving her bag on her lap, a hand placed on it almost protectively. Honestly, you'd think she had drugs or fire-arms in there, the way she never wanted anyone so much as looking at her bag the wrong way. Thomas supposed even the greatest scientist out there wouldn't be able to guesstimate the whole continents of Hayley's bag. It shall forever remain a history to mankind.

Once everyone was comfortable and still in their seats, Gabriella leaned over and slid the van's back door closed. Once she'd done so, Minho immediately raised his arms up in the air.

"Oh, hallelujah!" He said, before letting his arms fall back down. He shifted into drive and then proceeded to (rather shakily) steer the car to the side to get away from the curb and start driving on the road again. Thomas, as well as Teresa, Hayley and Gabriella, shook in their seats slightly due to Minho's rather shaky steering at first. But, thankfully, he managed to even them out again, and Thomas resisted sighing in relief. He loved Minho, but that didn't mean he had to love his driving.

And then they were off, Arctic Monkey's 505 blasting loudly, making the speakers almost vibrate in the back where Thomas was. Teresa had decided to leave her passanger's window rolled down, and was now leaning back in her seat, arm still resting up top where the window had once been, the wind blowing her dark hair back behind her. She seemed to enjoy it, though. Thomas found this odd because most girls he knew (Hayley and Gabriella and even sometimes Brenda included) hated having the windows rolled down all the way when driving. Thomas had to agree though, it DID look rather uncomfortable, all that long, thick hair hanging in a messy curtain directly in their face, obscuring their vision. Not fun, definitely not fun. But, of course, Teresa didn't seem to have that problem. No, her hair blew behind her, just like the pretty girls in movies does. And, without all that thick hair hanging around her face, her facial features became even more pretty and prominent. Her wavy hair even seemed to ripple softly in the wind, like inky water. There was a reason Teresa was considered one of the prettiest girls in school, you see. And this was part of that reason.

Everyone was pretty silent during the ride to Gabriella's Middle School, the only sounds that of wind gushing into the car audibly, car's blowing by (or rather Minho blowing by other cars that were actually going the speed limit), and Arctic Monkeys jamming out on the chorus of 505. Thomas always loved the drives, with his sisters and friends right before he had to go to school and see people he didn't like and learn stuff and be stressed out as fuck. Here he could actually feel nice and relaxed. It was a nice change of pace.

Finally, after Minho had turned into the street that led right up and over to Gabriella's middle school, and after Teresa had told him to 'slow down already, this is a school zone' a total of four times, they arrived in the parking lot to Gabriella's school. They slowed to a stop (slight jolt, really) in a parking space right up next to the doors. Turning around in his seat, Minho looked over at Gabriella.

"Well, this is it. This is your stop." He said, and Gabriella nodded, already bending down to retrieve her backpack again. Once she'd slipped it over her shoulder's, she threw Minho, and everyone else, a bright smile.

"Thanks for dropping me off here, Minho."

Minho waved a hand to the side, grinning lightly. "Don't mention it, champ. Now get outta here." He added that last part lightly, jokingly and Gabriella giggled.

"Yes sir." She gave him a small salute before reaching over and hugging Thomas, wrapping her arms around his middle and resting her head against his chest briefly.

"Bye Thomas." She said, before breaking away, looking at Hayley and waving. "Bye Hayley," Gabriella then turned to face the front again and grinned brightly, waving faster this time. "And bye Teresa!"

"Bye hun. Have fun in school!" Teresa called as Gabriella got out of the car.

"Don't worry, I will. See you guys later!"

And practically the second Gabriella had slammed the car door shut, Minho let out a loud, overly-relieved sigh and threw himself back against his seat, slouching slightly. "Phew! Thank god she's gone, now I can say 'fuck' as much as I want without you or Hayley hurting me." He said, looking at Thomas in the rearview mirror.

"We could hurt you anyway." Thomas reminded him, a light air to his voice as he spread his arm out over the backrest that had once been Gabriella's. 

"Touché, touché." Minho said, nodding as he started up the car again and began pulling out. As he did so, Teresa turned over to him and stared at him for a moment before speaking:

"Hey, Minho?"

"Yeah?"

"Back at Tom's house, did you say that Chicken Little...was a Pixar movie?"

Minho looked over at her once he'd successfully pulled out of his parking spot, raising a dark eyebrow lightly. "Yeah, so what?"

"So what?" Teresa repeated incredulously, actually lowering her sunglasses so that they rested almost at the tip of her nose so she could look Minho directly in the eyes. "So what? Minho, Chicken Little was NOT a Pixar movie. It was a Dreamworks one."

Minho stared at her, blinking slowly a few times before shaking his head. "Terry not to be rude or anything, but you couldn't be more wrong. Chicken Little was a Pixar movie, no doubt."

This time it was Teresa who shook her head. "No, it wasn't. Chicken Little is 100% a Dreamworks Animations film." 

"Teresa, I'm telling you, you're wrong. Pixar produced and released Chicken Little back in 2006 or whenever. Not kidding." 

"Guys, we are literally late to school right now. Can't this wait another time?" Thomas interjects, wondering why the fuck him of all people got stuck getting a ride with the ony two friends of his that could get into an argument about anything on this planet, even a kid's movie.

Teresa was silent for a moment and Minho took advantage of this to go back to the task at hand, driving. He pulled out of the parking lot entirely and began to make his way back to the main road that would lead them to their own school.

"You're wrong." Was Teresa's short and to-the-point reply. Not a hint of doubt in her voice. Minho sighed.

"No, I'm not. I'm right."

"Wait, guys, I thought Chicken Little was on Nickelodeon or some shit. Or am I just remembering wrong?" Thomas interjected, jointing the conversation. Teresa turned around in her seat to look at him and Minho tilted his rearview mirror to really look Thomas in the eyes.

"Dude, you're remembering it wrong. Chicken Little wasn't a Nickelodeon flick." Was Minho's sure reply. Thomas frowned.

"Hmm... I was sure that it--" but he was cut off by none other than Hayely.

"I think you're thinking of Disney, Tom-Tom. Chicken Little was a Disney movie, wasn't it?"

Thomas, Teresa and Minho all turned their gaze to Hayley incredulously.

"No, Hails. No, it wasn't." Thomas said after a pause. Teresa nodded.

"Tom's right, Hayley."

"Yeah, there is no way in fuck that Chicken Little was a Disney film." Came Minho's sure reply from the driver's seat as he turned on his turn signal to change lanes. Hayley frowned this time, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Yes, it was. It aired on Disney back when I was like, four or five. I remember it." 

"Yeah, but just because Disney airs something on their channel doesn't mean Disney produced and released it." Minho says.

"Umm, yes it does."

"No, it doesn't."

"Okay, name one time that Disney showed a movie on their channel that they didn't produce or release." 

"Doesn't Disney air The Nightmare Before Christmas around Halloweentime?" Teresa interjected thoughtful from the front. Minho waved a hand over in Teresa's direct, eyes still focused on the road, thankfully.

"See? Thank you, Teresa."

Teresa grins. "You're welcome. I was just saying."

"But didn't Disney produce, at least a little bit, The Nightmare Before Christmas?" Hayley asks quizzically, her eyebrows furrowing slightly. Thomas immediately lets out a laugh, he can't help it.

"Oh god, Hails. Are you seriously telling me you think that Disney produced Nightmare Before Christmas?" He asks in-between chuckles. Hayely frowns over at him.

"Yeah... Why?"

"Be... Because," Thomas chokes out, laughing harder now, "you couldn't be more wrong there, sis! Tim Burton produced Nightmare Before Christmas!" And he chuckles harder still. Hayley's frown deepens.

"He..did?"

"YES!" Thomas, Teresa and Minho yell at the same time. Teresa's giggling too now, muffling it as best as she can with the palm of her hand, and Minho's grinning now. 

"Oh god, that one was too good!" Teresa says, her voice light and slightly breathless, still giggling here and there. After a minute or two, she manages to get a hold of herself enough to stop laughing altogether, though the corners of her lips twitch upwards here and there. She turns to face Minho again. "But, back to the original conversation, Chicken Little was most certainly not a Pixar movie and was most certainly a Dreamworks one."

Minho sighs heavily. "God Teresa, can't you just let it go already? I mean, I first said all this ages ago when we picked up Tom-Boy and Hayley."

"And by 'ages ago' do you mean 'seventeen minutes ago'?" Asks Teresa, raising a single eyebrow. Minho rolls his eyes.

"Whatever, the point is, it's in the past now. Just get over it."

"No, not until you recognize that you're wrong and I'm right. I'm telling you, Chicken Little is a Dreamworks film or my name isn't Teresa Tara Agnes."

"And I'M telling YOU that Chicken Little is a Pixar film, for the twenty second time this morning. Jesus fucking..just look it up if you're so eager to prove me wrong then!" Minho exclaims, letting a hand hit the steering wheel huffily. Teresa pauses then smirks.

"Alright, maybe I will." And with that Teresa leans down, grabs her own bag that had been sitting at her feet and digs around in it until she finds and pulls out her phone. Typing in what Thomas assumed is a passcode to unlock it, Teresa starts rapping away, no doubt going on Google to search who produced Chicken Little.

Three minutes pass in not unwelcome silence, before Teresa noticeably stiffens in her seat and mutters a soft yet still audible "fuck!". Minho looks over at her and grind smugly.

"So, I see I was right then." He says, practically radiating smug and triumphant now, but Teresa shakes her head slightly, looking up at Minho.

"No, you weren't: we were both wrong." 

Minho furrows his eyebrows. "So, who was right then? Tom-Boy?"

Teresa shakes her head again. "No... Hayley was.." And Teresa looks over her shoulder at Hayley in disbelief.

"I was?" Hayley asks, her eyes shinning as she immediately seems to perk up, uncrossing her arms and letting them fall to her sides as she leans forward in her seat slightly. 

"Yep, you were." Says Teresa, nodding almost numbly. Hayley's practically beaming all over by now, looking way too smug.

"I told you I was right! And you all doubted me..," she shook her head sadly. "Such a shame. By the way, I liked how you automatically assumed I was the one least likely to be right, Minho. Thanks for that."

"No problem." Minho says, nodding. Hayley rolls her eyes.

"Maybe next time don't be so quick to doubt me." Hayley says as she relaxes back in her seat again, still grinning, looking much more at home than she had previously. She looks like a cat that got the canary and again Thomas marvels at just how catlike his younger sister can be sometimes.

"I... Still can't believe this." Teresa says, looking down at her phone as if it did her a great personal wrong and shaking her head almost sadly.

"I can." Hayley says, smiling wider. "Hey, how about we Google if Disney helped produce Nightmare Before Christmas too?"

"No thanks, Hails. I don't need a reason to doubt anymore childhood classics, thanks." Is Thomas's answer to that as he leans farther into his seat, moving his hand around the backrest it's still resting on as he does so. Hayley grins sharply.

"Whatever you say, Tom-Tom..."

And that is, thank god, the end of that. 

They all manage to blast down the road without anymore movie arguments (thank fuck, Thomas didn't know how much more of that he could have taken.) and everyone decided to pretty much keep to themselves after that. Hayley had gotten her own phone out, probably to google whether Disney helped produce Nightmare Before Christmas anyways, because she most likely wanted to prove she was right two times in a row this morning. Teresa was still on her phone, seeming slightly sulky. Teresa hated being wrong, and always pouted about it afterwards. It was endearing though and actually could be cute sometimes. And Minho was actually focusing on driving this time and was only currently going five miles above the speed limit which, for Minho when he's late, is actually pretty tame. And Thomas? Thomas had decided to check what he likes to call 'The Squad' group text. It was a personal group text that consisted of himself, Hayley, Minho, Teresa, Alby, Brenda and Winston. Thomas was pretty unsurprised to see it was as lively as it always was on school mornings. 

Brenda: Heyyy, is anyone @ school yet? I'm omw rn and I don't wanna be lonely :(

Winston: Don't worry B, I'm on my way too. We just left two minutes ago.

Brenda: Aw yeah, I won't be alone after all! :D

Alby: I'm already here, just getting my groove on all by my self.

Brenda: 'Getting your groove on'?? Really, Al?

Alby: Shut it and get your asses over here already, I'm bored af.

Winston: Sir yes sir! 

Brenda: Okay mom, will do. Oh btw did you pack a lunch for me?

Alby: Yeah, a knuckle sandwich. Your favorite.

Brenda: I'm more a fan of sausage myself if you feel where I'm coming from ;D And ooh, real sassy there Al. You wanna fukin fite me?

Alby: Maybe, do you want to fight me too?

Brenda: Hellz yeah. Anytime, anyplace. I'll 1v1 you, n00b.

Alby: Fuck off, Brenda. 

Brenda: Nuu, I don't want 2!

Alby: You used 'two' instead of 'to', you realize this, right?

Brenda: Yes, Grammar Police, I realize this. And forgive me, but I'm all out of fucks to give about it. 

Winston: You're always out of fucks to give.

Brenda: Tru, tru.. :D

Chuckling to himself, Thomas decided to join the party.

Me: Whoa, I see I missed several things here..

Brenda: THOMAS!! YAY! :)

Me: Hey B :)

Alby: Hey Thomas.

Me: Hey Albz. Hey Wins

Winston: Heyy there :P

Brenda: Are you on ur way 2 Thomas?

Alby: Stop using 'two' as a substitute for 'to'! :/

Brenda: Make me, mom :P

Me: You know he can, Brenda. And yeah, I'm omw. I'm w/ Min and T too. And Hails, ofc.

Winston: Ofc.

Alby: Dang, y'all still aren't here yet, wtf?

Brenda: We're on our way, mom. 

Winston: Coming in slow.

Brenda: That's what she said tho!

Alby: -.-

Me: Haha, nice, Brend. Real nice.

Brenda: Ty, ty :D

Me: Yw

Alby: That's it, I'm getting the hell outta here. All these abbreviations and bad grammar is hurting my poor southern eyes. Catch ya on the flip side!

Brenda: .. He's weird.

Me: Yeah, but we love him anyways.

Brenda: Tru

Laughing to himself, Thoms slips his phone back into his front jean's pocket, shaking his head as he does so. His friends can be a little much at times but Thomas honestly loves them and wouldn't trade them for anything. Not that he'd ever tell most of them this, of course. They'd tell him he was being over emotional: and maybe he was. But he liked it anyways.

Finally, FINALLY, Minho actually manages to get them to their destination; Wells County High School. Arctic Monkeys is still blasting, only this time it's Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High that's playing instead of 505. Minho is drumming his hands on the steering wheel along with the beat and even Teresa is humming along lowly. Minho carefully, if not a little shakily, maneuvers his van through the still fairly crowded parking lot. Kids that have a free period or two or who are already on a lunch break come out here and hang out with their friends a good deal of the time, so even though it isn't official drop-off time, the place is still pretty occupied. 

They weave around groups of kids, from freshman to seniors, from punks to preppy kids, and actually manage to find a suitable parking space that's fairly close to the school building so they won't have to walk too far. Minho pulls in, but he parks a little crookedly and, after much persuasion from Thomas and Teresa for him to not 'just leave it and fuck off' he puts the car in reverse to straighten the van out a little bit. He's about five seconds in to backing out of the parking space when suddenly there's a loud sound of metal bumping against metal and Thomas and Hayley jolt forward slightly at how quickly Minho moves forward and applies the breaks at the same time. Not for the first time, Thomas realizes how greatful he is to seat belts. Honesty, he probably would have croaked at the age of eleven without these babies to help him. 

"Ugh, what was that?" Hayley practically groans, eyes a little wide, still bent forward slightly, the seat belt having shrunken down and stretched across her significantly to hold her in her seat, pressing tightly against her chest. Thomas shakes his head. He doesn't know what that was all about... Maybe Minho accidentally hit one of the cars near them while he was busy backing out. It wouldn't be the first time. Not really...

Turning around in his seat as best he can with his own seatbelt clinging and constricting him too, Thomas tilts his head to get a good luck at what came from behind them. It turns out he was wrong. For once, Minho was completely innocent in a driving related mishap. A shiny dark blue corvet was stopped just a few inches behind Minho's van, the ignition still on and loud and roaring with light. There are two people in the front seats. In the passanger's seat is a pretty girl, pale and slim, with a circle-shaped face, round prominent cheeks, a slim little nose, freckles splattered here and there on her face. The girl had big, doe-shaped Carmel eyes, and dark golden orange-ish hair twisted into a French side braid. She seemed just as startled as Hayley was, brown eyes wide and lips slightly parted. 

And, in the front seat, was a guy the same age as Thomas, he was tall, almost six feet tall, significantly taller even in his seat than the girl in the passanger's seat, that's for certain. He had pale skin as well, a prominent jawline, short golden blonde hair that almost looked fluffy, and dark brown eyes so dark brown they were almost black. And, with a dreadful jolt, Thomas realized he knew these two.

The guy in the driver's seat was Newt Isaacs, and the girl with him is Sonya, Newt's girlfriend. And Thomas instantly know that, because it's Newt who's driving, that he and his friends are in for a world of shit. And they haven't even officially set foot in their school yet. Great.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tada! Newt's made an appearance! And he's also a shitty driver. Go figure. ;P Did you like Thomas and the gang's argument? I did. I had a lot of fun writing it. Me and my friends argue about stupid shit all the time so I felt the need to bring up just one of the many little gems I know. Plz leave a comment and rate and next chapter should be up asap! :D


	4. Car (And Character) Collisions... Oops.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Continuing from where we left off last time; Everyone (basically) has an encounter that 'escalates quickly' to say the least. Also, more reasons to love Hayley and Thomas, bless.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Wow, long time no see. Sorry, I've just been trying really hard to get this chapter right but I think I've finally done it. Now, without further ado, enjoy the chapter! :)

Thomas turned around in his seat as best he could, stifling a low groan when the seatbelt tightened around him naturally. He should've seen that one coming. Seat belts always lock when weird questionable shit happens in cars. And this was definitely a weird, questionable and shitty situation. Out of all the cars to bump into in this parking lot, out of all the people to be driving and sitting in the passenger's seat of said car, it had to be Newton Isaacs and Sonya Summers that bumped into Minho's. Fucking hell. Small world Thomas's ass. More like cramped parking lot with shitty drivers, not that he's naming any names or anything... Mhmm.

Hearing a soft, short little groan Thomas does his best to tilt his head this time and not his body to look next to him. What he sees makes him feel even more annoyed and kinda pissed off about this whole situation.

Hayley is leaning way too forward in her own backseat, her long, thick dark brown hair hanging forward dramatically so, creating a chocolate looking curtain around her head and obscuring most of her face from view. Her shoulders are higher up than usual and her back is arched, her slim shoulders moving up and down just a tad too quickly, Hayley's breaths coming out more audible than usual. Hayley groans again, slightly louder this time, and leans back into her seat again, still sitting unnaturally tall and tensely. She raises a small hand to push her curtain of dark hair back, tucking uncooperative strands behind her ear.

Now that Thomas can see her face clearly the first thing he notices is his sisters wide brown eyes, slightly pinched expression and little line in between her eyebrows.

There's an odd pause, before Hayley seems to find her voice again.

"What. The. FUCK was that?" She asks. Loudly. Eyes widening even more as she absently rubs under where her own seatbelt has tightened, massaging her skin through her t-shirt.

"I don't know, but that was bullshit." Came Teresa's reply from Minho's passenger seat, and there was a small thump as she practically fell back into her seat. Thomas could see her shoulders sagging and watched as Teresa too brushed jet black waves of hair out of her own advice.

"Yeah, I'd say.." Was Hayley's tense and rather annoyed reply.

Minho meanwhile, up in the driver's seat, pushes up from where his forearms had been resting at the top curve of the steering wheel, letting them fall back before bringing them up again and hitting the steering wheel loudly with his palms.

"I'll tell you what that was..." Minho sounds angry and Thomas notices that Minho is sending very dark, narrow-eyed glances at the rear view mirror every other fraction of a second.

"Isaccs and Summers just bumped into us." 

The reaction was instant. Both Teresa's and Hayley's heads snapped up, eyes alight as they both stared at Minho.

"Wait, wait, wait a minute... You're telling me that our favorite power couple crashed into us just now?" Teresa asks, voice colored with disbelief. Minho nods slowly, tensely.

"Yep. That's exactly what I'm telling you." 

Teresa scoffs before reaching over and tilting the rear view mirror over to her so she could see behind them from the passenger's seat. Thomas sees sea blue doe-eyes widen noticeably before she quickly, almost roughly turns the mirror back to face Minho again as best she can quickly.

"Fucking unbelievable..." Teresa mutters under her breath, shaking her head. Her dark curls bouncing slightly with the movement. 

"Minho right, T?" Hayley asks, leaning forward in her seat as much as her seatbelt will allow her to. Teresa nods.

"Yeah..."

Hayley immediately pushes herself into her seat again, her back smacking roughly against the back of her car seat. "Fucking ridiculous. I mean, bumping into us all passive aggressive pussy like in the halls is ONE thing, but to bump into us in his richie mobile? Where you can actually cause damage? Fucking... You know what? Fuck this. Fuck all this." And with that Hayley immediately scrambles about, hands flying down to where her seatbelt clicks in place and clawing at it until it opens. She swings the seatbelt carelessly to the side and it hits her car's door with a smack. She pushes herself up to the edge of her seat and reaches for her door's handle.

"Whoa, Hails, what're you doing?" Thomas asks her, but it is evidently too late as Hayley has already pulled the car's door open (as far as it will go) and is jumping out of the car. Thomas immediately starts to find the lock for his own seatbelt too. Once he has, he scooches down to where Hayley had just been sitting, and, ignoring Minho and Teresa's protests, gets out as well.

Hayley is already ahead of him, though. She's actually marched herself over to Isaacs' car door and is banging her palm flat against it quickly with one hand and motioning for him to open his door with the other, a rather formidable scowl on her face. Thomas is tempted to get closer to her and calm her down as best he can but, in all honesty, his little sister isn't exactly the best to try to soothe when angry. She will throw things at you and scream whenever she gets good and pissed and it's usually best to leave her be to tire herself out rather than try to interfere, unless you want to deal with not only a loud, pink faced and very pissed off Hayley, and a bruise on your upper arm due to the alarm clock she threw at you, but also a very pouty, mopey Hayley after all's said and done as well. Plus, Thomas doesn't blame Hayley for being pissed. Hell, he'd be the first one to say that Newton Isaacs really needed to get his ass handed to him after it's been sufficiently kicked.

It takes a minute but finally Isaacs does open his door, rather roughly and quickly too. Hayley side steps it naturally as it swings open. If she hadn't had such sharp reflexes it would have hit her in the chest and a bit in the face. Hayley seems not to have let this pass by without notice either, her dark brown eyes seem to grow darker and her scowl deepens. She crosses her arms tightly over her chest and shifts her weight from side to side, almost swaying but only slightly.

"May I help you?" Newton drawls in his very noticeable English accent, an eyebrow already raised at Thomas's sister as if she's the most insignificant thing he's seen in all his life. Fucking dick.

Hayley raises her own eyebrow mockingly, a false look of confusion on her face. "Hmm. I don't know, Isaacs. Can you? I mean, you were the one to bump into us. One can only wonder what you wanted." Hayley shot Isaacs a significant look there, her words no longer falsely curious but sharp and intent. Isaccs eyes narrow ever so slightly,

"Right. About that, you'd better hope nothing on the bumper of my car's been so much as breathed on the wrong way."

A look of high incredulity crosses over Hayley's face, then disbelief, then... Well... Does 'Are you fucking kidding me? That's it, I've had it, you'd better fucking run now' count as an emotion? Thomas thinks it does. Or at the very least should. Hayley's face is pinched up tighter now, more noticeably.

"Are you KIDDING me? Your car? Don't make me laugh, Isaacs. You ran into us here. If you didn't care about your car enough to watch where the fuck you were going, then you won't care too much about whether your own stupidity damaged anything or not."

Issacs' eyes narrow further now and oh, he's getting pissed off too. He opens his mouth to retort, but it seems Hayley isn't going to have that yet, as she cuts across him.

"And YOU'D better hope that OUR car doesn't have any damage to it's rear, otherwise I'd have to not only inform the principle and have him call your parents as well as mine, but ALSO have you written up! I mean, honestly, who the fuck drives like that in a PUBLIC SCHOOL LOT! You know damn well it's crowded as fuck in here, you've driven down here in your air polluting rich boy junker enough to know that by now!"

"And you know what else?" Hayley continues, seeming to be on a roll now. Isaccs seems relatively unimpressed though, and rolls his eyes slowly and clearly.

"I dunno, but I suppose you're going to tell me in order to carry out this brainless, pointless little convo you're so intent on having, yeah?"

"Oh, brainless huh? Like yourself, you mean?" Is Hayley's quick retort.

Isaacs' own dark brown eyes narrow even more, lips twitching slightly and he stares Hayley down. "Listen here, don't go bringing up intelligence in an argument, alright love? Trust me, it's in your best interest." He fake winks at her, and that is enough to upset both Thomas AND Hayley this time.

"Oh, honestly, fuck off Isaacs." Thomas says lowly and slowly to make t appear as if he couldn't find a fuck to give as he walks over closer to them, standing next to his sister protectively. 

"Oh, don't act like this is all my idea of a good time. Your silly bint of a sister over there is the one who's so intent on carrying on this conversation, not me." Is Isaacs reply, his voice sharper than ever and his eyes starring intently at Thomas now. Thomas doesn't let it bug him much though and is proud that he doesn't fidget or back down even slightly, just continues looking at Isaacs impassively.

"Yeah, and that's because my 'silly bint' of a sister is right. You were being a dumbass and we shouldn't have to pay for your own careless stupidity."Thomas pronounces his words intently, Slowly, making eye contact with Isaacs the whole time as if he's talking to a child and explaining to them how five and five equal ten total. "And believe me," Thomas adds, "neither of us would even make direct eye contact with you unless it was important."

Isaccs scoffs. "Please, I see you two. I see ALL of you." He makes a sudden sweeping movement and both Thomas and Hayley turn their heads to their left to where Isaacs had just gestured to see that Minho and Teresa had finally managed to get out of the car and we're watching the scene in front of them tensely and with wide eyes. 

"You all WISH you'd have a good reason to come within a ten foot radius of me." Isaacs continues, rather smug look indeed on his face and Thomas and Hayley simultaneously roll their eyes heavily. 

"Yeah, that's right Isaacs. I lie awake every night fantasizing that I'll finally get to breath in your personal air up close. It's my greatest dream, actually." Is Thomas's dry reply, followed by another eye roll as he crosses his arms slowly over his chest.

Hayley scoffs this time. "Well; thanks for finally admitting you notice someone who isn't yourself for a change, Isaacs. You're deeper than I thought, you really are." Hayley shakes her head wistfully. 

"The POINT, Isaacs, is that you really need to retake your drivers test, before anyone else gets bumped into and has to deal with your ass." Minho interjects, stepping forward slightly.

Isaccs simply scoffs and rolls his eyes, muttering what sounds suspiciously like 'Bloody tossers' under his breath. 

"Whatever, Isaacs. We're done." Thomas replies; uncrossing his arms and reaching over to grab Hayley's arm, tugging her closer to him. He turns his back and begins to walk away, his sister right behind him, following him rather reluctantly but easily all the same.

"You know, I really think you guys should find a way to stop getting your panties all in a twist, you know? That can't be good for your physical health, really." Was Isaacs slightly louder reply. Thomas and Hayley both paused walking and Thomas turned to look over his shoulder, starring Isaacs straight in the eye.

"If only we cared what you thought." Thomas replies dryly before turning around just slowly enough to notice a flicker of...something, surprise maybe, flicker in Isaacs eyes before he starts walking again with Hayley, walking over to where Teresa and Minho, who now looked very shocked indeed. Hayley instantly links arms with a stunned, wide-eyed Teresa and after a second Minho throws his arm around Thomas's shoulder and is that a grin Thomas sees? 

And together they start walking away from Isaacs and Sonya, who has now come out of the car to ask her boyfriend what all that fuss was about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, there it is! I hope you enjoyed it. Hayley's a sassy pants, and so is Thomas because sassy Thomas is life. Newt's snarky, for sure, and I'm hitting it with English slang oh yeah. This chapter was originally longer and better but my device shut down while I was in the process of editing it all over and I lost everything and couldn't find it no matter how hard I tried. I couldn't remember what all I wrote because I was in the zone but I tried, I really did. I don't hate this tbh. I like it. Things gets interesting next chapter and it'll be better I promise. Leave a comment and a rate, let me know what you think, I enjoy that. And thank you everyone for reading this little story of mine :)

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so...there it is. I know it's short but I just wanted to do a little introduction to see how well this will do and to warm me up for writing the next chapter. There aren't enough Mean!Newt fan fictions so I decided to write another one. I hope you liked it. If you did, my ego feasts on comments so be sure to do that ;D Just kidding...sort of... :*) Ooh, also, there will be a lot of precious cinnamon roles in this fanfic later on, just a heads up. Thomas being the biggest cinamon roll because there aren't nearly enough cinnamon roll Thomas fan fictions either, even though he deserves it. Okay, I probably sound like the human embodiment of Tumblr in 2015 so I'm just gonna see myself out. Bya!


End file.
